Greater Boston Food Bank opens 'cross dock' in Bridgewater

A facility in Bridgewater operated by the Greater Boston Food Bank provides up to 80,000 pounds of food for the region's hungry.

BRIDGEWATER – On any given Wednesday, between 30 to 40 local hunger relief agencies can be seen at 300 Elm St. picking up as much as 80,000 pounds of food to feed the region’s hungry.

The location is the site of one of the six “cross docks” in eastern Massachusetts where the Greater Boston Food Bank distributes food to more than 500 local agencies that it partners with to feed the hungry.

“It’s a convenience to our member agencies in outlying areas,” said Cheryl Schondek, the organization’s vice president of food acquisition. “What we do on a weekly basis is ship two to two and a half truckloads of food, so that our local agencies can pick up the food there instead of coming to Boston.”

The other five cross docks are located in Harwich, New Bedford, Peabody, Plymouth and Framingham.

Bridgewater is the newest of the facilities, opening after the cross dock in Taunton that previously served the region was unable to continue the program.

On Wednesday, the Greater Boston Food Bank will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Bridgewater facility, which is housed in space donated by Pilgrim Consolidators Inc.

Schondek said the organization arrived at the facility after reaching out to state Rep. Angelo D’Emilia, who referred them to James Bagley, the president and owner of Pilgrim Consolidators.

“We needed a new home, and Rep. D’Emilia got back to us right away,” Schondek said. “James Bagley and his team have been phenomenal.”

The donated cross dock spaces allow the Greater Boston Food Bank to continue the fight against hunger, which remains a stubborn problem in Massachusetts.

“One in nine residences in Massachusetts is food insecure,” Schondek said. “They don’t know where their next meal is coming from, that’s what keeps us up at night.”

In 2013, the Greater Boston Food Bank donated 48 million pounds of food, enough to provide meals to 545,000 people.

Schondek said that the organization is on pace to distribute the same amount of food this year.

The organization also takes pride in its ability to donate an array of healthy food to those in need, with Schondek noting that 25 percent of the food they provide is produce.

According to the Greater Boston Food Bank’s website, the problem of hunger has crept into the middle class with more than one third of the households they serve home to one or more working adults.

Those adults are often forced to make tough choices for their families, such as choosing between food and heat, rent or medical care, according to the website.